1 May 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - The three conventions* that govern chemicals and hazardous waste safety at the global level will, for the first time, convene jointly in a meeting of the parties in Geneva from 28 April to 10 May 2013. Nearly two thousand participants from more than 160 countries will attend the two-week long meeting.

1 May 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR’s upcoming e-Learning course on Overcoming Negotiation Deadlocks will equip participants with the conceptual knowledge and practical tools to efficiently overcome deadlocks in negotiations and successfully negotiate towards beneficial outcomes.

24 April 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - In the framework of their collaboration aiming to jointly develop a series of learning programmes in the field of knowledge management, UNITAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have developed the course Innovative Collaboration for Development (ICfD), an e-l

19 April 2013, Geneva, Switzerland- UNITAR and the INTOSAI (The International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions) Development Initiative (IDI) signed an agreement to deliver e-Learning activities promoting the implementation of International Standards for Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) in Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) across developing countries.

27-28 March 2013, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire – Côte d’Ivoire held a  Final Review Meeting for the project “Implications of ratification of the Basel Convention Ban Amendment for Côte d'Ivoire”, on 27-28 March 2013, with the participation of UNITAR and a representative of the Swiss Embassy in Côte d’Ivoire.

21 March 2013, Beijing, People's Republic of China — The final review workshop for the project on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was held on 21 March 2013 in Beijing. The workshop brought together 17 participants from government, industry, civil society, and academia representing the sectors related to the GHS, as well as two resource persons from UNITAR.

2 April, Geneva, Switzerland - Professor Anne Glover holds an important position at the European Commission: she is the first Chief Scientific Adviser to the President of the Commission.

March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - UNOSAT is constantly partnering with public and private ventures to research new applications of geospatial technology that have the potential to make the work of the UN more effective or less expensive. Some of this effort over the past three years went into a successful project named iRESCUE.

March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - The Executive Director of UNITAR has appointed Dr. Einar Bjorgo of Norway as UNOSAT Manager after a selection process involving internal and external candidates. Bjorgo, who was serving as Senior Officer at UNITAR had been in charge of UNOSAT operations under the previous management.

13 March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - A course currently creating interest amongst the online participants this month is the course on the Governance of Extractive Industries. Not only is the organization of this course timely, but also the course topic is of paramount importance in the post economic and financial crisis.